There are NO copyright restrictions on this design when made for personal use.

A small table saw, drill press or drill, and a hand router are beneficial for building this.

I make these in Cherry, Walnut and Maple but even Pine or Fir will work as a structure material.     You will need enough 1X (3/4") lumber ripped to 1" width for -
2 strips @ 30"
2 strips @ 27-1/4"
2 strips @ 14"

There will also be -
2 pieces 1" X 2" long,
2 pieces 1-1/4" X 5-1/4"
1 piece 1/4" thick by 1-1/2" X 16"
1 piece 1/4" thick by 1-1/2" X 14-1/4"

Additional needs include -
1/2" dowel (2 @ 11", 1 @ 13", 1 @ 14-1/2"
#6 X 1-1/4" wood screws
#6 X 3/4" wood screws
#8/32 X 1-1/2" wide headed stovebolts and nuts
1/4" washers

Round off the ends of the 30" pieces (1" Dia.) and mark center point on one end (top).     Drill a 1/8" hole through center point and then counter bore the hole.    Turn over and drill 1/2" hole to a depth of 3/8" using 1/8" hole as guide in both. (Detail A)       USING THE SIDE WITH THE 1/2" HOLE, from top of unit measure down 13" and mark on center.     Mark five more marks at 1" O.C. below that.     Drill 1/4" holes through the centered marks. Turn over and drill a 7/16" hole to a depth of 1/4" using the 1/4" hole as guide. (Detail B)       Set pieces aside.

Take the 27-1/4" pieces and the 2" piece and make half lap joint on one end.     Round off the ends of the pieces (1" Dia.)    Drill a 1/8" hole through center point of 2" piece and then counter bore the hole.    Turn over and drill 1/2" hole to a depth of 3/8" using 1/8" hole as guide. (Detail A)       MAKE CERTAIN that you "mirror" or "reverse" the process on the second strip.     USING THE SIDE WITH THE 1/2" HOLE, measure up 17" from the bottom and mark on center.     Mark five more marks at 1" O.C. below that.     Drill 1/4" holes through the centered marks.     Turn over and drill a 3/8" hole (this allows the nut to be held in place) to a depth of 1/4" using the 1/4" hole as guide. (Detail B)       Set pieces aside.

Now the fun begins.     Take the 5-/4" x 1-1/4" pieces.    Measure in 5/8" and mark a line down one side of the length.     Measure up 1" and mark.     Continue with 2 more marks at 1" O.C..     Drill 9/16" through hole at all three marks.     Remove the waste to the edge of wood.    Round over the bottom edge (1-14" Dia.).

Take the 14" X 1" strip and make half lap joint on one end along with the 5-1/4" piece.     Let me digress a bit here as well.     I generally drill and counter bore the two pieces of the joint to facilitate removal for shipping as these will extend out when the unit is folded up.     Your choice - bolts or glue.

Round off the other end of the 14" piece.     Center drill a 9/16" hole through end.     Measure 2" from each end of unit and mark center.     Drill a 1/8" hole through center point and then counter bore the hole.     Turn over and drill 1/2" hole to a depth of 3/8" using 1/8" hole as guide. (Detail A)       MAKE CERTAIN that you "mirror" or "reverse" the process on the second strip.

There is still another item that you may wish to make. It only serves as a spacer to keep the 14" piece from slidding back and forth on the dowel so is not really nessesary to make the unit function. Simply removes a bit of frustration when the 14" piece flips around and bangs against the other legs. Depending on what equipment you have, there are two ways to approuch this. The easiest is to take a piece of 1" dowel. Cut it to 3'4" in length, mark the center of the circle and drill a 9/16" through hole. Of course the first thing you will discover is that it is really hard to drill that large a hole into that small a piece of round wood. Use a wood screw clamp to hold as you will never be able to grip the piece while submitting it to the forces that spinning drill bit places on it. And if it does crack in half while drilling, your fingers are out of the way. Round the edges with sand paper and set aside for now.

Since I never do things the easy way, I prefer the second method. This does require having a lathe to work with. I take a scrape 1" strip and cut 2 pieces 1" in length. Mark center and mount onto the lathe with the drive spur and tail stock. Turn down to a 1" circle and level the faces. I do a little decrotive cut into each side simply because the tool is in my hand already and it looks better on the unit when finished. Then drill the 9/16" hole through the face (again using the wood clamp) and set aside.

Okay, we got through the easy part and still look like we know what we are doing.     Good.     Next is to round off all of the edges.     While hand sanding has to happen at this point, I start with a hand router equipped with a 1/8" radius bit to soften the edges.     Run the router all the way around the outer edges first.     Now you only have to touch up spots and remove any burn marks with the hand sanding.     Don't forget to put a round edge on the two 1/4" strips that you made as well.

And now we have reached the assembly portion.     Yea!     Start with the interior adjustable arms.     Take the 2 shortest 1/2" dowels. (11")     Tap one end into each of the holes drilled into the arms.     Drill through opposite side of arm into the endgrain of the dowel with a 3/64" bit and then secure the dowel with a #6 X 1-1/4" wood screw.     Turn over and repeat the operation. Make certain that the arms are level and parallel to one another.

Next take the 27-1/4" pieces.     Use the 13" dowel and attach in the same manner.     Then, ON THE OPPOSITE SIDE OF THE HALF-LAPPED NIPPLE, measure up 14" from the bottom.     You should be centered on one of the holes previously drilled through the side.     Center the 14-1/4" X 1-1/2" X 1/4" strip on that hole and mark two spots; one on each side of the hole.     This keeps you from placing a screw directly into a hole that you may need later.     Drill marks with 1/8" drill bit and counter bore.     Secure to leg with #6 X 3/4" wood screws.     Check to make certain that the unit is square.

Take the remaining 16" X 1-1/2" X 1/4" piece.     Mark and drill two holes on each side and counter bore.     Then take the remaining pieces, (30").     Measure 2" from bottom of piece.     Place bottom of edge on mark and secure with #6 X 3/4" wood screws.     Make certain that 1/2" holes are both facing in toward one another.

Now place the 14-1/2" dowel through the 9/16" holes drilled through the interior adjustable arm.     And if you made themn, slide one of the spacers onto the dowel as well. Place the dowel end into the 1/2" hole, making certain that the short arms are facing opposite the 1/4" strip placed at the base.     Secure with #6 X 1-1/4" wood screw, turn over, place other spacer on dowel and repeat attachment.

This is where I generally put a finish on the pieces.     You can use most any finish you desire but my preference is a poly-urethane.     Tung oil will also work well.     When the finish is dry and enough sanding between coats and additional layers have been applied, you can finish assembly.     Lay the large piece onto a flat surface with the short notched arms pointing up.     Place the other unit inside the larger one so that the dowel covers the interior adjustable arms.     Line up the bottoms to match up the holes.     Pick a hole.     I usually start with the third from the top.     Insert a #8/32 stovebolt through the outside hole, slip a 1/4" washer between the two legs and then push into the other leg.     Attach with nut. The nut should be captured by the edges of the 3/8" hole.     Tighten down and then back off slightly.

If height of unit needs to be adjusted, simply move the pivot nut to another hole.     As the nut was captured, you will probably have to retieve it instead of hunting up another. Or you can set a nut into each capture hole (they are cheap). To reteive the nut just finger turn the stovebolt into the threads until they protrude past the nut edge. Then you can just pull it out with the stove bolt. Remember that choosing a hole below the one being used will result in the height increasing and vice versa.

To stand up simply lift interior adjustable arm up and slide the other portion towards the short notched arms.     The first notch in arm should allow the pillow to reside in a level position.